Burner control means



-Aug. 20,1946. v W LANDON 2,406,228

mmimn ccmnoz. MEANS Original Filed Sept. 4, 1942 2 Sheets-She'et II.

FIG-1 v ,INV/ENTOR" 7 m J. Cay-m BY K E AATTORNEY W. S. LANDON BURNER common MEANS Original Filed Sept 4, 1942 I .INVENTOR M ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 20, 1946 BURNER CONTROL MEANS Walter S. Landon, Detroit, Mich, assignor to Detroit Lubricator Company, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Original application September 4, 1942, Serial No.

457,310, now Patent No. 2,389,519, dated November 20, 1945. Divided and this application January 8, 1944, Serial No. 517,499.

8 Claims.

-I'his invention relates to new and useful improvements in heating apparatus and more particularly to means for controlling the operation of a burner for the same. An object is to provide-novel means for determining the range of automatic operation and the maximum and minimum flow limits of the fuel supplying valve for the heating apparatus.

Another object is to provide means to stop pos itively the movement of the control valve toward closed position at its minimum flow position.

Another object is to provide means by which the valve can have closing movement beyond its minimum flow position.

The invention consists in the improved construction and combination of parts and their aggroupment in operative relation to, be more fully described hereinafter and the novelty of which will be particularly pointed out anddistinctly claimed. In the accompanying drawings to be taken as a part of this specification, there is fully and clearly illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention, in which drawings: Figure l is a schematic view of the heating apparatus having the novel control means and showing the control means in the side elevation but with parts broken away and in vertical section substantially on the line I-| of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the control mea with the top cover member removed;

Fig. 3 is a view of the control means in vertical central section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

j Fig. 4 is a detail view showing certain of the safety mechanism and taken on the line 44 of 3;

Fig. 5 is a detail exploded view of parts of the valve positioning mechanism;

Fig. 6 is a detail view in section on the line 6----6 of Fig. 3 showing the cooperation of the metering valve and its operating lever, and

Fig. '7 is a detail view of certain lmob supportmg means.

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference, I designates generally a heating apparatus such as a floor furnace supported by a basement floor or the like 2 and discharging the heated air upward through a grill 3 set in the floor 4. The heating apparatus has a combustion chamber 5 with a pot-type oil burner 6 which may be a gravity fed hydroxylation burner supplied with fuel oil through a supply pipe I and with combustion air through an air inlet 8, either natural draft or pressure fed, by a fan or the like. The combustion chamber 5 has an outlet duct 9 to the usual stack or chimney. Surrounding the combustion chamber 5, there is a continuous vertical partition or ballle I0 dividing the space within the casing II of the heating apparatus into 'a return air inflow passageway I2 for receiving air from the heated space and an upflow discharge passageway I3 for the heated air which discharges through the grill 3 into the space to be heated. The baffle I0 terminates above the base of the heating apparatus so that the passageway I2 is in communication at its lower end with the lower end of the upflow passageway l3. The liquid fuel is fed through the pipe or' conduit I from a constant liquid level control device I4 which is supplied with fuel from a supply tank not shown through an inlet supply pipe I5 which is connected into an inlet strainer chamber I6 in the base of the device I4. The outlet from the strainer I I and chamber I6 opens into a passageway |8 which opens upward through a valve seat member I9 into the constant level chamber or reservoir 28 of the device I4. Cooperable with the seat member I9 there is a float operated inlet-controlling and shut-off needle valve 2| for regulating the inflow of oil to the reservoir 20. The valve 2| is secured to a float operated lever arm 22 fulcrumed for normal operation on a pin 23 and carrying a float member 24 adjustable relative to the arm 22 by means of a screw 25 engageable with the bimetal float supporting member 26. The arm 22 is provided with bearing slots 21 cooperable with the pin 23 so that in the event of failure of the valve 2| to maintain a constant liquid level such that the liquid level increases, the arm 22 can fulcrum on the connectirrg pin 28 between the arm 22 and valve member 2|, thereby to permit the float member 24 to move upward due to the lost motion permitted at the slots 21. Upward movement of the float 24 in response to excess or undesired increase in liquid level will cause the lever arm extension 29 to engage the trip arm 30 of the safety trip mechanism 3| and move the dog or pawl 32 out of underlying relation to the latch plate 33 on the safety trip lever 34 so that the force of the spring 35 is released to move the lever 34 sharply downward into engagement with the upper end of the valve member 2 I, thereby to force it to closed position against its seat. The

safety trip'lever 34 has an end portion 36 which casing 31 so that the lever 34 can be manually tripped or released. A more complete descripa horizontal supporting member such as a plate across one end portion of the housing 39in overlying relation to the trip mechanism 3i.

7 E ting on the top of the side walls of and con-' forming: to: the casing 3?, there is a housing member. having a top coverv member 40 and cast integral with the housing 39 and extending f stem 65 is of reduced diameter, asat M, for a cured to the underside of the supportingmember: M by screws or the like 42, there;is a temperature responsive power element 63 having a casing 4 1- closed and sealed by an expansible, collapsible wall 45, such as a metal bellows KO. provideian'exe j pansion chamber 46 communicating W th ,abulb.

or feeler element 41 through a capillarytube48;

l The power element is charged under a vacuum with a suitable volatile liquid-such an anilineoil.

The bulb element 3'! is inserted through the heating apparatuspasing l 1- into the upflow passageWay'B-so that the pressure in the expansion chamber 4G*varies" in accordance with the temperaturej'ofthe heated air discharging to the space tobe'heatedv Therbellows header endwall adjacentthe-opposite'end of the" housing- 39 in an adjustment screw engaging portion 59 coop erablewith an adjustment screw Bil-bearing downward against the spring 58 and tensioning it-over a br-idge member '6 I which supports the springs 58ri-ntermediate its ends; Thelever '53 has adown-turned spring-abutment arm 62. V tionedwbetween the' arm 62 and an abutment member'GB secured tothe housing'39, there is a rebent leaf; type toggle spring 64 -so'- positioned relative -to-*the: lever T53 that its component of force OPpOSi-ngTOtatiOn of lever 53 will decrease at-such a rate "that theforce which will initiate movement of the lever 53 V will; cause movement of-,-the'lever- 53 through its complete: range of travel; *Extending-irom the lever 53 adjacent and on the'power element side of the bridge member 6| which limits upward movement ofthe lever-53 by the spring-64', there is a valve oper ating arm: 55 'apertured' for passage of a metering valvestem fiii therethrough and having'op posite downturned bearing portionsfor engaging the topface of a collar 61 slidable on the stem 66. This metering valve operating mechanism'is more fully described in mycopending-application SerialNo. 381,835 filed March 5, 1941 for-Control Secured in-an' aperture in arm 65, there is an internally threaded sleeve or nut 68 through which there is adjustably screw-threaded an operating rod '69' for actuating the safety trip mechanism; a=lock nut 10 being provided to hold the rod 69 in adjusted position. The rod or thrust member 69 extends downward into; the casing 31- and terminates in overlyingrelation; seerFige, to one endportion of a release lever. Ltcarried by andjournaled onthe'valve closing Posilever 34 by a bearing pin 12. The other end of thelever H has a'laterally projecting arm 73 which underlies the trip arm 30 so that upon counterclockwise rotation of] the lever H by downward thrust of the rod 69, thearm 13 will lift the'trip arm 39 andlrelease the lever 34 to close the float operated valve member 2!.

The lower end portion of the metering valve sliding fit in an annular flange 15 within a valve seat member 'lfiwhich is press-fitted in the outlet conduit 'l'i leading fronr the reservoir 20. The conduit H has an internally screw-threaded fitting 'iil projecting from the bottom wall of .theicasing 3T and into which the end of the fuel 7 .conduit 'lv issecured as by screw-threaded engagement. Communicating with the conduit 11 and extending upward from the fitting '78 there is a ventpassage F9 for relieving the conduit 1 of any fuel entrained air or gas. The lower end I portion of the stem tit-has an internal longitudinal bore $38 which extendgupwardto apoint above maximum liquid level in -the reservoir 20 so as to vent the passageway or conduit 7 of any fuel, entrainedair or gas. The reduced stem end portion i is provided with a. meterin slot 8| which is tapered at its upper end for pilot flow,

the slot cooperating-with the flange "F5 to meter flowfrom the reservoir 25! to the burner 5 Above, the'reduced portion it, the stem has aconical portion which is engageablewith the upper end of the valve seat member lfi'toclose off10r stop thefiow ofiuel from the reservoir Zil-to the conduit ll. Loosely fitting on the stem 56 above the conical portion 82 there, is a sleeve or tubular member'83 which is urged-upward by a helical V coilspring 8 seating at its lower end" on the bottom wall of the casing fland. surrounding that the spring 8% acting upward throughthe sleeve 83-against the -pin' 85' actsto move-the valve M toward open position, see Fig; l. Positione'd laterally of the stem ES-andatdiametricallyopposite points there are a low fireadjustment screw 86 and a high fire adjustment screw 8! which are adjusta-blyscrew threaded into supporting bosses 88, 89-respectively extending upward from thebottom wall of the casing 31. Slidable on the screw 85 there is adjustable low fire stop member 99 in the form of a' sleeve having a lateral flange 9i-at-its.lower" end, the membersfi being supported on a stiff helical coil spring 92 which'surrounds the screw 85 and seats.

on the boss 88. Cooperable with-the member 98 there is an arm 53 which eXtends radially and horizontally from the sleeve 83 and is notched or rounding the high fire adjustment screw 81 there is a cam track means 95,.see Fig. 5. The cam track member 96 has an apertured ear 91 received by-the screw 86 and seating on the sleeve 93; Overlying the ear 9!- and the low fire end portion 98 of the member 96 there-is a resilient track member $33 having an aperture arm I00 which fits over, the screw 86. The member 99 has inverted 'U -shaped and section to hold it laterally in-registry withthe end portion}!!! and has a downward inclined side edge IOI leading from the portion 98 as a flexible track extension.

Also received by the screw 86 is the apertured end portion I92 of a cam seating member I03 having a horizontal step I04 cooperable with the valve stem pin 85 to seat and hold the conical valve portion 82 in engagement with the seat member 16. The other end of the cam seating member I03 is apertured, as at I05, to receive the screw 81 and to be held in engagement withthe top face of the boss 89 by the overlying spring 94. The high fire end of the cam track 96 has an apertured ear I06 which receives the screw 81 and seats on the top face of the stiff spring 94. Secured on the screws 86 and 81, there are sleeve abutment members Ill'l, I08 respectively which hold the cam track means 95 down against the springs 92 and 94- The cam track means 95 closely surrounds the stem 66 so that the pin 85' bears upwardly against the under face of the track member 9 or the step I04 of the member I03 or the resilient track edge IOI. The top edge of the sleeve 83 has a recess or notch I09 positioned beneath the step I84 and has a downward inclined cam edge H0 leading from beneath the flexible track edge IOI so that upon rotation of the stem 65, the pin 85 will move down along y sion spring H2 which surrounds and acts at its upper end against the collar 6'! to hold the collar against a downward facing annular shoulder II3 on the stem 66. Preferably the collar 61 is reciprocal on a stem extension II4 fitted into a stem end bore and pinned therein, as at II5, so that the parts can be assembled. The stem 66 extends upward through an aperture H6 in a horizontal shelf or supporting plate member II'I preferably cast integral with the housing member 39 and thence through a registering aperture H9 in the cover member 40. Journaled in the aperture H5 there is a tubular hand adjustment member or knob US which extends upward through the cover aperture H8 and is longitudinally slotted upwardly, as at I20, at a plurality of po nts from its lower end. Each of the downward extending knob fingers is of reduced width at its lower end portion to pass through aligned arcuate slots in clamping washers I2I, I22 which engage the top and bottom faces respectively of the shelf II 1. The finger shoulders engage the top face of the washer I2I so that the lower ends of the knob fingers turned or bent outward, as at I23, lock and hold the knob I I9 longitudinally fixed for rotation in the shelf aperture II 6, see Fig. '7. The stem extension II4 extends upward through the washers I2I, I22 and has, at its upper end. a disc I 24 with arcuate slots through wh ch the knob fingers slidably fit so that rotation of the knob II9 acts through the disc I24 to rotate the stem 66, thereby to reciprocate the stem as the pin 85 is moved along the cam means. The disc I24 is carried by a pin I25 which fits in a longitudinal bore 0r socket in the upper end of the stem extension I I4 and is held against rotation relative to the extension I I4 by a cross pin I 26 which fits in a stem end slot I21.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: The low fire adjustment screw 86 is set to position the flange 9| such that, with the arm 93 in engagement therewith, the desired minimumfuel flow for pilot operation of the burner 6 will be maintained. This simultaneously adjusts the position of the main cam track low end 98 and its auxiliary track member IOI so that when the cam follower member is rotated to minimum flow position, it will be riding on the top face of the sleeve member 83. It may be noted that the auxiliary track member IOI provides a flexible resilient end portion for the main track member 96, thereby to accommodate manufacturing tolerances in the spacing between the low cam end 93 and the top face of sleeve member 83. The high flre adjustment screw 9'! is set to position the high end of the main track member 96 at the maximum permissible fuel flow to the burner 6. The thrust member 69 is adjusted relative to the force of spring I I2 so that the lower end of the thrust member 69 will actuate the release lever "II upon predetermined temperature increase above the temperature at which the arm 93 will have been movedinto engagement with the flange SI and which is the limit temperature at which the burner must be shut down. Assuming that the burner is operating at pilot fire and the hand grip member II9 has been rotated to position the follower member 85 radially, as shown in Fig. 1, then, upon a call for heat, the thermostatic power element 43 will move the lever 53 upward with a quick action, thereby permitting the spring 84 to move the valve stem 66 upward until the follower member 35 engages the main track member 96, as shown in Fig. 1. Any desired fuel flow to the burner can be obtained within the minimum and maximum limits set by the low fire screw 86 and the high fire screw 37 respectively by merely rotating the stem 66 to regulate the lift of the follower member 85 before its engagement with the cam track means. When the temperature is reached at which the power element 43 is set to operate by the prior adjustment of screw 60, the lever will be moved downward with a quick action, compressing the spring 84 and moving the arm 93 into engagement with limit flange 9!. This downward movement of the lever 53 will not compress the spring II2 since it exerts a greater resistance than the spring 84. If the temperature increase which resulted in downward movement of the lever 53 was caused by an obstruction to outflow of the heated air through the grill 3 from passageway I3, as for instance by the positioning of a rug over the grill 3, then the temperature surrounding the bulb element 41 will increase and when the temperature has risen to the predetermined safe limit as determined by the adjustment of the thrust member 69, then the furtherexpansion of power element 43 will have compressed the spring I I2 sufliciently so that release lever II will have moved the trip arm 30 upwardly, thereby releasing the lever 34 for closing of the inlet valve 2| under the force of spring; 35. Fuel flow to the burner 6 will now continue furnace I and will result in a safe operation,-

which would not be the case if the power element 43 had acted to fully close the metering valve I4, for the reason that opening of the metering valve after such a safety operation by the power element 43 would result in fuel flow to the burner 6 which might still be so hot that an explosion would occur.' After the power element 43 has tripped the safety mechanism 3| and has cooled to a position calling for heat, such as shown in Fig. 3, then the trip mechanism can be manually. reset to the position of Fig. '3 by lifting upwardon the lever extension 35 sufficiently to position the latch plate 33 above the pawl 32. If it is desired to shut down the burner 6, the hand grip member H9 is rotated to move the follower member 85 off the end of the main track member 86 and into underlying relation to the step i 3, which is possible by reason of the sleeve member recess use which permits the stem 66 to move downward beyond the limit set by flange 9i, the resilience of the track member H33 acting to hold the conical valve :portion 82 tightly against its seat .on the member 16.

It maybe noted that if it is desired to provide "a control device in which the metering valve is modulated in accordance with the temperature of the power element 63, that this may be accomplished by changing the angle at which the spring 64 acts on the lever 53, so that the sum of the power element resisting component of force of the spring 64. and the force of the spring 58 does not decrease upon movement of the lever 53 by the power element 43, as is well known to those skilled in the art.

This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 547,310, filed September '4, 1942, now Patent No. 2,389,519, granted Nov. 20, 1945, for Burner control means.

What is claimed and is desired .to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A control valve comprising a valve member having a stem, a sleeve rotatably and reciprocably fitting said stem, a spring urging said sleeve longitudinally of said stem, a pin projecting from said stem and engageable by said sleeve to hold said spring under compression,

. means engageable by said pin to limit opening yond said limit of closing movement.

2. Acontrol valve comprising a casing having a valve port, a valve member cooperable with said port and having a stem, a sleeve member rotatably and reciprocably'receiving said stem, a camtrack member, a finger extending from said stem and positioned between said sleeve member and said track member, a spring acting on said sleeve member and holding said sleeve member against said finger and said finger against said track member, means engageable by said sleeve member to limit closing movement of said valve member, said sleeve member having a recess for receiving said finger, and means to rotate said stem to position said finger in registry with said recess so that said valve member can move further toward closed position.

3. A control valve comprising a casing having a valve 'port, a valve membercooperable with said port and having a stem, a sleeve member rotatably and reciprocably receiving said stem, a camtrack member, a finger extending from said stem and positioned between said sleeve member and said track member, a spring actgageable by said sleeve member to limit clos' ing-movement of said valve member, saidsleeve member having a recess for receiving said finger, means to rotate said stem to position said finger in registry with said recess so that saidv ciprooably fitting said stem, a spring urging said ing on said sleeve member and holding said sleeve member against said finger and said finger against said. track member, means, en-

sleeve longitudinally of said stem, a pin pro-. j ecting from said stem and engageable by said sleeve to hold said spring under compression,

means engageable by said pin to limit opening movement of ,said valve member, an arm holding said sleeve against rotation, means engageable, with said arm to limit closing movement of said valve member, said sleeve having an end recess to receive saidpin, and means to rotate saidstem for movement of said, pin into said recess so that said valve member can move beyond said limit of closing movement.

5. A control valve comprising a valve member having a stem, a sleeve rotatably and reciprocably fitting said stem, a spring urging said sleeve longitudinally of aid stem, a pin projecting from said stem and engageable by said sleeve to hold said sprin under compression, a cam track member engageable by said pin to limit opening movement of said valve member, a post supporting the low end of said track member, an abutment on said post, an arm extending from said sleeve and reciprocably en aging said post to hold said sleeve against rotation, said abutment being en-- by said arm to limit closing movement of said valve member, said sleeve having an end fitting said stem, means cooperable with said stem andoperable to actuate said valve member, a'spring urging said sleeve longitudinally of said stem, a pin projecting from said stem and engageable by said sleeve to hold said spring under compression, means engageable by said pin to limit opening movement of said valve member, means engageable with said sleeve to limit closing movement of said valve member, said sleeve having an end recess t0 receive said pin, and means to rotate said stem for movement of said pin into said recess so that said valve member can move beyond said limit of closing movement.

7. A control valve comprising a casing having a valve port, a cover on said casin and havingv recess to receive said finger upon rotation of said stem, a hand grip member'extending through cover aperture, means supporting said grip member for rotation and against reciprocation longitudinally of. said stem, means to transmit 9 rotation of said hand grip member to said stem, said stem being reciprocable relative to said hand grip member, and means to disengage said finger from said cam means and to move said valve member toward said port against the force of said spring.

8. A control valve comprising a casing having an outlet port, a longitudinally slidable and rotatable metering valve cooperable with and con trolling flow through said port, a stem on said valve, a minimum flow adjusting screw, a maximum flow adjusting screw, said screws being positioned at opposite sides of and parallel to said stem, a sleeve on said minimum flow, screw and having a minimum limit flange, a coil spring on said minimum flow screw and supporting said sleeve, a coil spring on said maximum flow screw, a main cam track member apertured to receive said screws and seating on said sleeve and said second-named coil spring, a resilient shut ofif cam track member apertured to receive said screws and having a shut ofi step at the low end of said main track member, an auxiliary track member carried by said minimum flow 10 screw and by said main track member, said auxiliary member extending along and beneath the low end of said main track member and leading to said step, a pin projecting from said stem and engageable with the underfaces of said track members, a sleeve member on said stem, an arm extending from said sleeve member and having a notched end in slidable guided engagement with said sleeve, said arm being engageable with said limit flange to stop movement of said valve toward closed position, a coil spring surrounding said stem and urging said sleeve member against said pin and holding said pin against one of said track members, said sleeve member having a top edge recess to receive said pin for movement of said valve toward port closing position beyond the limit of said limit flange,

means to rotate said stem to adjust the position of said pin along said track members, and means 

